The major emphasis of research in this Center continues to be upon organizational, cost and quality of care measures in the health care systems. A group of research interests are expressed in the following titles: 1) Study of pre-operative consultation in elective surgery. This is a proposal to study the cost/benefits of such consultation to patients with a limited number of surgical conditions whose care is paid for by private health insurance, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Medicaid. 2) Study of the appropriateness of health services to the elderly. This will focus on health services as they effect the indviduals' well-being and resulting cost effectiveness of the services. The research should suggest policies and programs which will improve the appropriateness of cost-efficiency and the health services. 3) Study of the effectiveness of critical care units within hospitals will examine the organizational components, the specific diagnostic or therapeutic processes of the outcomes of care in a patient population carefully controlled for levels of severity of illness. 4) Study of health education in primary and secondary schools specifically developed to respond to the expressed health beliefs and health behaviors of the subjects. The health beliefs are related to known risk factors in disease such as nutrition, exercise, alcohol and tobacco smoking.